Painting The Invisible
by xSugarySweetX
Summary: AU Kori Anders is your regular high school student, except for the problem that she's in love with the most popular boy in school, her father is getting married to a total skank, and her new stepbrother might just have a thing for her. Rating may change.


**_Painting the Invisible_**

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* * *

** Disclaimer: **We don't own Teen Titans.

**Note: **This is an AU, cowritten by Jumptype and AlwaysLoveYou.

* * *

**Starfire:** Kori Anders

**Robin:** Richard Grayson

**Raven:** Rachel Roth

**Beast Boy:** Gar Logan

**Cyborg:** Victor Stone

**Speedy:** Roy Harper

**Kid Flash:** Wally West

**Bumblebee:** Karen Beecher

**Jinx:** Jennifer Reed

**Kole:** Katie Cole

**Argent:** Toni Monetti

**Aqualad:** Garth Curry

**Batgirl:** Barbara Gordon

* * *

"_BRING. BRING. BRING. BRING. BRING. BRING."_

Kori rolled over, wishing and praying that her alarm clock would stop ringing. She didn't want to get up and face a whole new day. Instead, she would rather spend her time lying in bed, sleeping and dreaming. She believed it would be a whole lot better than reality.

However pleasant it would be to stay in bed forever, Kori knew that her alarm clock probably wouldn't shut off by itself. So she rolled over, stretched a tired arm out, and pressed the top of the clock, hoping that it was the button that shut off the alarm.

No such luck. The alarm kept ringing. "_BRING. BRING. BRING. BRING._" Kori whimpered and slowly got out of bed, swing one leg over the side and then the other. She drowsily looked at the top of her clock, standing up next to the table it was perched on. Finally she found it: the button marked, "Alarm." She pressed the button and sweet silence came.

Groaning, she understood that she couldn't simply go back to bed. She had school that day, and being a junior in high school she had a lot of work to do. After taking her pajamas off, she walked over to her dresser, picked out a shirt and some jeans, and tiredly slipped them on. Not bothering to apply makeup, she opened the door to her hallway and went down the stairs to the kitchen.

There she saw her father, standing in his work suit, sipping coffee and reading papers from a file folder marked "Confidential." Kori had no idea what her father's job was: for all she knew, he could be an agent in the CIA. It wasn't like she cared, either. She tried to have nothing to do with her father. He was only her caregiver, nothing more.

"Good morning," she stolidly greeted her father, who didn't look up from the manila folder.

"Hello," he replied.

She went into the library and got her bag from the chair it was sitting on. Quickly she put her hair into a low ponytail and opened the door leading out to the sidewalk.

"I'm leaving," she announced, and hearing no answer, she left her house.

Luckily for her, school was two blocks down. Otherwise she'd have to get up two hours earlier to catch the bus, which she _didn't _want to do. Walking to school was peaceful, she thought. Especially since the sky was blue and the sun was shining. It cheered Kori up quite a bit.

When she got to school, she knew she was early. She reminded herself to set the alarm clock earlier. That way she'd get at least thirty minutes more sleep.

Kori still felt half asleep as she made her way up the steps to the front door of Gibson High School. She walked into the dark hallway and didn't see anyone there.

Making her way toward her locker, she heard someone running down the hall. She was too tired to pay attention to the quick pitter-patter of steps until she felt the person ram into her.

"Ow…" she groaned after she fell to the floor. She looked over to see who the person was who slammed into her. It was a boy about her age with jet black hair. He turned over and she felt as if she could gasp when she saw his stunning blue eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked her. Kori noticed that books had spilled out of his backpack.

"Your books," she pointed to his fallen notebooks.

He looked down to where the contents of his bag had dropped. "Oh, shit…I'm already late for a meeting with Madame De Mille. I guess…are you sure you're okay?" he looked back at Kori, who nodded.

"Well, I have to go," he said, picking up his books and putting them back into the bag. He then ran off.

Kori sat there on the floor for a minute, and then noticed that a notebook had been left behind. It was bright red, and had no visible name on it. She didn't bother to look inside and told herself that she would return it later.

* * *

"Kori Anders? Hello? Are you listening to me? Come on…"

Kori snapped her head to look back at her best friend, Rachel Roth, who was sitting next to her at the lunch table. "Yeah, I'm listening to you," Kori replied absentmindedly.

"It doesn't seem like it," Rachel said, poking at her lunch. "This doesn't look edible."

"Mmhmm," Kori grunted. She was busy looking across the room at the boy she had bumped into earlier. She looked down at his bright red notebook, and then back up to him.

"What are you looking at?" Rachel asked, and Kori shrugged.

"Nothing."

"It's not nothing," Rachel said. "I know when you're lying. I've been your best friend since second grade."

Kori didn't bother looking at her friend. She was too interested in the ebony haired boy who she had met that morning to listen to Rachel.

"She's looking at Richard Grayson." Kori suddenly looked up and saw her two other friends, Karen and Jennifer, sitting down at her table.

Rachel rolled her eyes and went back to poking at her lunch. "You're such a sell-out, Kori."

At this statement, Kori reacted. "Wha-? Why?"

Jennifer piped in, her pink hair swinging in front of her purple eyes. "Because Richard Grayson is a popular freak who only goes out with sluts."

Disappointment overcame Kori as she looked back at Richard, watching him laugh with his friends. "I didn't…I didn't think…"

"Of course you didn't think that," Karen started. "He was nice to you because he probably wants to get in your pants."

Kori blushed. She didn't think of it that way, and he didn't seem like the type of guy that would do that.

"How do you know this?" was the first question that came to Kori. Karen and Jennifer looked at each other, and then laughed as Kori's other friends, Katie Cole and Toni Monetti came over.

"Why are you laughing?" Toni asked, her British accent thick.

"Because Kori here has a thing for Richard Grayson," Rachel answered, her voice flat, seemingly uninterested.

"I used to like him," Katie said, and everyone groaned.

"Katie, you like _everyone_," Jennifer said, picking up her vegetarian sandwich and taking a big bite into it.

Katie protested. "I do _not _like everyone…I don't like Michael Sark…" she trailed off, which made her friends groan harder.

"Michael Sark is your _half brother_…that's just sick," Karen said, and then pushed her tray away from her. "I don't think I can eat anymore."

Kori laughed at her friends: she loved them so much, and she trusted them a lot. If they said that Richard Grayson was a typical popular jock, then she would think that. She just had to return his notebook first.

* * *

"Jesus, Madame De Mille completely ate me out," Richard said on his way to the library. His best friend Roy Harper was on his right side, while his other best friend Wally West was on his left.

"What'd you do?" Wally asked, and Roy snorted.

"Does _anyone _need a reason to piss Madame De Mille off? It's like she's continually PMSing, seriously," Roy commented, and both Richard and Wally snickered. "I mean, I know that once a woman reaches a certain age she gets hot flashes but I thought they were supposed to stop after a while."

Richard plopped down on the couch in the library, his two friends doing the same. He decided to answer Wally's questioned without a smart-ass answer like Roy's.

"I failed two tests. I guess she doesn't like the fact that I hate French," Richard said. "I personally prefer dead languages."

"God, how can you ever prefer _school_? This place is hell. I'm not kidding," Gar Logan, another of Richard's friends came up to them.

"Hey, Gar," Richard greeted his friend. Wally and Roy did the same. "Where's Vic and Garth?" he wanted to know.

"Oh, Vic's at lacrosse practice and I have no idea where Garth is," Gar answered, still standing up. Roy had taken up the whole end of the couch with his legs.

Richard decided to ask something that had been bugging him all day. "Hey, do any of you know a girl in our grade who has long dark red hair and green eyes?" he asked.

"Nope," Roy said, and Wally shrugged. Gar, however, seemed to know something.

"Oh, yeah, I know who that is…she's in my pre-calc class. Her name is Kori Anders," Gar answered, and a look of disgust appeared on Roy's face.

"Oh, God, she is such a dork," he said. Richard felt his heart pounding, because he didn't think she was that bad when he had met her. In fact, she seemed very nice and quite pretty.

"She's hot, though," Wally commented. "Too bad she belongs to the geek squad."

Richard shrugged, trying to push thoughts of her out of his mind. Roy then asked a question Richard didn't exactly know how to answer.

"Why are you asking us about geek freak?"

Again, Richard shrugged rather wishing he had never even brought up the subject.

"Nothing. No reason," he answered solemnly, looking away from his best friend, who raised an inquiring eyebrow.

Roy began to speak, then closed his mouth and turned away from Richard with a dissatisfied expression. "Hmph," he grunted.

Rolling his eyes, Richard searched through his backpack. Finally, he realized that something was gone. "Shit!" he exclaimed.

The heads of his friends turned toward him. "What?" Wally asked, and Richard put his hands on his head in despair.

"I can't believe I didn't notice it until now," Richard groaned, leaning back on the couch. "The notebook for all my classes is gone," he complained.

"Shit, dude," Gar commented, and Richard nodded in agreement.

Wally shook his head in disbelief. "You didn't notice that your notebook was gone _during _your classes?" he asked, and Richard smiled unsurely.

"I guess I'm not too into taking notes today," he said, but the truth was that he was too busy thinking about the redheaded girl he had bumped into earlier that day to take notes. Wally seemed to understand this and decided to say nothing more.

"I have to go look for my notebook," Richard said, getting up and heading for the doors leading out to the hall.

Roy sighed and then turned to Gar and Wally. "Is it just me or does he seem off today?"

* * *

Kori rushed outside, feeling the warm spring hair slightly blow on her neck. She felt a slight chill to accompany her pounding heart as she spotted Richard Grayson and approached him. He seemed to be slightly distressed, but other than that he looked normal.

A light redheaded girl came up to him, having blue eyes that matched hers. Kori was slightly taken back: she hadn't seen this girl before. Then again, she hadn't seen Richard before and he was in her grade.

Watching from afar, Kori saw Richard slightly pull away from the girl. She then laughed, and he smiled. Kori noticed how much she liked his smile, and started to blush. Richard then leaned down and kissed the girl standing next to him.

Kori felt a slight twinge, but other than that felt absolutely nothing. She just hoped that she could return his notebook before he left. The girl that Richard was with started to walk away, waving at him. He slightly waved back, and started to walk in Kori's direction.

Right as they were about to pass each other, Kori summoned the courage to talk to him. "Hey," she quietly said, touching his shoulder. He turned to her, and smile came to his face. It quickly left, much to Kori's disappointment.

"Hey," she started again. "I'm Kori Anders," she introduced herself.

"Richard Grayson," he said in reply. Kori noticed curiosity in his deep blue eyes.

"I…I," she started to dig in her bag, and then picked out the bright red notebook and held it out to him. "I picked this up after we bumped into each other this morning," she explained.

"Oh, man, thanks," he took the notebook from her. "That was really nice of you to return it," he commented, smiling at her. His smile made Kori feel good, and she didn't know why.

"By the way," Richard continued, "I'm sorry for bumping into you this morning."

"It was really no problem," Kori replied, smiling at him as they stood there outside of the school, people bustling around them.

"See, I was just late for a meeting with Madame De Mille…I failed two French tests," Richard explained, and Kori nodded in understanding.

"French is hard," she agreed, and he smiled.

"Yeah. What are you getting in French?" he asked, and then corrected himself. "I mean, if you even take French…" he trailed off.

Kori nodded happily. "Yeah, I take French with Madame De Mille…and I'm getting and A plus," she answered his question. She thought she saw his jaw drop.

"And A plus!" he exclaimed, and Kori blushed, embarrassed.

"Yeah…sorry…" she apologized, tucking a piece of red hair behind her ear.

Richard laughed. "Oh, no, don't be sorry. But…this is great! Maybe you can help me with French or something. What's your free period?'

Kori timidly replied, "A Block."

"Same here!" Richard seemed truly excited. "Here, I'll give you my screen name, and we can talk about when we'll meet…I mean, if you're up for this," he said, and Kori nodded. "Great."

He ripped out a piece of paper from his notebook and got a pen from his bag, scribbling something on the sheet. He handed it to her. "Here," he said, and she took it.

"T-thanks," Kori said, blushing. She didn't think that the most popular guy in school would has her to be his French tutor. She then heard a voice in the back of her mind.

_He's just a skank who thinks you're easy. He probably isn't even failing French. He's just a liar. A popular liar. _

Kori was too excited to think about the voice in her head. She folded the paper and slipped it in her pocket.

"Yeah, I gotta go now. It was nice talking to you, Kori," Richard smiled, and then started to walk back toward the school.

Kori stood there, her eyes wide, wondering if that whole conversation really happened.

* * *

It took a few minutes to unlock the door to her house, but Kori finally managed to do it. She had piles of homework to do that night, and she knew that her father wouldn't be home until late. She had the whole house to herself.

The first things Kori did was rush up to her room and go to where her computer was. She leaned down and turned the computer on, and then stuck her hand in her pocket, searching for the sheet of paper Richard had given to her. She couldn't see to find it.

"Oh, no…" she said to herself, feeling worry strike her. "Don't tell me I've lost it…" she frantically searched all her pockets, and then breathed a sigh of relief when she found it.

Her computer turned on and she signed into AIM. Quickly she pressed the "Add/Remove Buddy Button," but before she could add Richard to her Buddy list, she got an IM.

**xquoththeraven38x: **_hey I didn't see you after school. where were you?_

Kori sighed. Rachel was IMing her. She replied:

**PrincessKori3456: **_lots of homework 2 do. i had 2 go home_

**xquoththeraven38x: **_oh okay. well I hope you get it all done. _

**PrincessKori3456: **_thnx_

Opening the piece of paper, Kori enterned in Richard's screen name, hoping he would be on.

**PrincessKori3456: **_hey_

**Nightwonder009: **_I'm away now doing something other than talking to you. Roy, go away. Wally, basketball practice after school tomorrow. Gar and Vic remember that you still have to pay me. _

Then:

**Nightwonder009 is now offline and will receive your messages when they sign on again. **

Kori sighed and signed off AIM, getting a start on her homework, hoping that she'd have a chance to talk to Richard again.

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_Thanks for reading. Reviews are appreciated. _


End file.
